This print, organised around the luminous beacon of Christ, brings together two different episodes of the Gospel of Matthew: on the right, emerging from a dark passage towards the divine light, a crowd of derelict and sick people gather around Christ waiting to be healed by him; on the left, two mothers holding their babies and an older child pointing at him refer to Christ’s words “Let the little children come to me” (Matthew 19:14). By merging these two episodes, Rembrandt celebrates the power of Christ as the quintessential healer: he cures the mortal, offended bodies of the sick by blessing them with his left hand, while stretches his right arm to welcome the souls of those pure of spirit, like the children.

The work highlights Rembrandt’s virtuoso and experimental approach. In a technical tour de force that took the artist at least two years to complete, he used the techniques of etching and drypoint to achieve different light effects, from the deep black of the background to the blinding light of Christ that – Rembrandt seems to imply - expanding over the crowds, purifies the bodies from their sickness and the souls from their sins.

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Inscription: Mount (removed): Recto: lower left, printed: "B. 74. II"